Missoula County takes builder to court over sprinklers
by John Q. Murray
Missoula County is taking a Houle Meadows homeowner to court. The county is seeking to force the first homeowner in the 23-home subdivision to install a residential sprinkler system. The civil complaint asks a judge to prohibit occupancy until the home meets the fire suppression requirements.
The subdivision, between Frenchtown and Huson, is just west of the Lavoie Underpass below I-90 that connects to Houle Creek Road. The lots lie between Mullan Road and the Montana Rail Link tracks.
The original complaint, also named the developers of the subdivision and sought as an alternative remedy to vacate the plat. That means the county would withdraw its approval for the subdivision, and the developers would have to start all over again.
But the developers provided documentation to the county attorney’s office showing that they informed the homeowner of the sprinkler requirement. They said they expect to be dropped from the complaint.
Deputy county attorney Mike Sehestedt and county attorney Fred Van Valkenburg signed the complaint Sept. 6. The Chronicle obtained a copy of the document Tuesday.
Sehestedt said he has written letters to builders about the sprinklers in the past, but that this is the first time the county has had to take a builder to court.
“Frenchtown Fire is very good about telling people early on,” he said. “I’ve gone after people with letters before and gotten pretty good compliance. Generally, things get resolved. This one has just gone to the mat.”
Sehestedt confirmed that the developers would likely be removed from the complaint.
The fire suppression safety requirement appears in Missoula County’s subdivision regulations. The subdivision must install a water supply that provides 1,000 gallons per minute. As an alternative, the county allows developers to meet the requirement by installing sprinklers in each house.
The sprinkler option allows developers to proceed with individual lot or home sales without incurring the up-front cost of installing a large water storage tank, which is the typical solution in rural Montana for providing 1,000 gallons per minute. Sprinkler system costs can be passed along to individual homeowners as part of the home’s sale price.
The court documents note that Houle Meadows developers Steven and Betty Bidlake chose the sprinkler option and wrote that requirement into the subdivision covenants.
The covenants state, “Fire suppression shall be provided by means of residential fire sprinkler systems. Prior to construction of any new residence, plans for installation of a residential fire sprinkler system shall be approved by the Frenchtown Rural Fire District.”
However, the first home under construction in the subdivision does not include sprinklers, the court documents state, and owner Richard Palmer has “repeatedly refused to install the sprinkler system.”
The original court documents alleged that either the Bidlakes did not tell Palmer of the requirement, or they advised him that the requirement would not be enforced.
Steve Bidlake told the Chronicle that he met with Sehestedt and presented documentation showing that that allegation was not true.
“We have documentation through the real estate company that sold the lots that the builder signed, acknowledging that he knew that the sprinkler systems needed to be in there. We specifically reduced the price of the lot because of that, so he made his decision entirely on his own,” Steve said.
Sehestedt confirmed that he had met with the Bidlakes and would likely soon be amending the complaint to remove their names.
Richard Palmer said he had not yet been served with the court papers, and that it would not be appropriate for him to comment at this time.
Although the lawsuit was filed by the county and involves the county’s subdivision regulations, many area developers, including Bidlake, blame Frenchtown Fire for the requirements.
“We felt like we were kind of strong-armed on that [sprinkler] deal when we did the subdivision,” he said. “It kind of looks like the county does whatever Frenchtown Fire wants.”
He suggested that the fire department is promoting sprinkler systems because it has a poor record in battling structure fires.
“We see the fire trucks running all over the valley. I don’t know of a fire they put out,” he said. “I watched a house right next door to the fire department burn to the ground,” he said, referring to Grace Cline’s home, which burned in March 2004.
As reported in the March 26, 2004 issue of the Chronicle, Chief Waldron said even though firefighters were on the scene within three minutes of the call for help, a strong afternoon wind had already pushed the fire up through the walls of the old home to the attic. Given the home’s construction and the wind, it was impossible to save the structure.
Waldron has also said that given the long distances that firefighters must travel in the sprawling rural district, sprinkler systems are an effective way to protect property.
It is the second issue this month that has sparked anger and criticism of the fire district. At the September fire board meeting, current and past school board members criticized the fire district for what they characterized as its rigid enforcement of the Uniform Fire Code. The district required the installation of a fire alarm notification system before students could occupy the school’s new modular classroom building.
The criticism comes just six weeks before the Nov. 7 election, when Frenchtown voters will decide whether to approve a perpetual fire district levy of almost $300,000 each year. The fire district is seeking the money for new capital budget items, including construction of new fire stations and replacement of aging fire engines and other apparatus.
The department’s presence has helped lower fire insurance rates for homeowners, Chief Waldron pointed out. If insurance rates were to increase, he said homeowners would end up paying a lot more out of pocket to the insurance companies than they would to the local fire district for the requested levy increase.
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Missoula County is taking a Houle Meadows homeowner to court. The county is seeking to force the first homeowner in the 23-home subdivision to install a residential sprinkler system. The civil complaint asks a judge to prohibit occupancy until the home meets the fire suppression requirements.
The subdivision, between Frenchtown and Huson, is just west of the Lavoie Underpass below I-90 that connects to Houle Creek Road. The lots lie between Mullan Road and the Montana Rail Link tracks.
The original complaint, also named the developers of the subdivision and sought as an alternative remedy to vacate the plat. That means the county would withdraw its approval for the subdivision, and the developers would have to start all over again.
But the developers provided documentation to the county attorney’s office showing that they informed the homeowner of the sprinkler requirement. They said they expect to be dropped from the complaint.
Deputy county attorney Mike Sehestedt and county attorney Fred Van Valkenburg signed the complaint Sept. 6. The Chronicle obtained a copy of the document Tuesday.
Sehestedt said he has written letters to builders about the sprinklers in the past, but that this is the first time the county has had to take a builder to court.
“Frenchtown Fire is very good about telling people early on,” he said. “I’ve gone after people with letters before and gotten pretty good compliance. Generally, things get resolved. This one has just gone to the mat.”
Sehestedt confirmed that the developers would likely be removed from the complaint.
The fire suppression safety requirement appears in Missoula County’s subdivision regulations. The subdivision must install a water supply that provides 1,000 gallons per minute. As an alternative, the county allows developers to meet the requirement by installing sprinklers in each house.
The sprinkler option allows developers to proceed with individual lot or home sales without incurring the up-front cost of installing a large water storage tank, which is the typical solution in rural Montana for providing 1,000 gallons per minute. Sprinkler system costs can be passed along to individual homeowners as part of the home’s sale price.
The court documents note that Houle Meadows developers Steven and Betty Bidlake chose the sprinkler option and wrote that requirement into the subdivision covenants.
The covenants state, “Fire suppression shall be provided by means of residential fire sprinkler systems. Prior to construction of any new residence, plans for installation of a residential fire sprinkler system shall be approved by the Frenchtown Rural Fire District.”
However, the first home under construction in the subdivision does not include sprinklers, the court documents state, and owner Richard Palmer has “repeatedly refused to install the sprinkler system.”
The original court documents alleged that either the Bidlakes did not tell Palmer of the requirement, or they advised him that the requirement would not be enforced.
Steve Bidlake told the Chronicle that he met with Sehestedt and presented documentation showing that that allegation was not true.
“We have documentation through the real estate company that sold the lots that the builder signed, acknowledging that he knew that the sprinkler systems needed to be in there. We specifically reduced the price of the lot because of that, so he made his decision entirely on his own,” Steve said.
Sehestedt confirmed that he had met with the Bidlakes and would likely soon be amending the complaint to remove their names.
Richard Palmer said he had not yet been served with the court papers, and that it would not be appropriate for him to comment at this time.
Although the lawsuit was filed by the county and involves the county’s subdivision regulations, many area developers, including Bidlake, blame Frenchtown Fire for the requirements.
“We felt like we were kind of strong-armed on that [sprinkler] deal when we did the subdivision,” he said. “It kind of looks like the county does whatever Frenchtown Fire wants.”
He suggested that the fire department is promoting sprinkler systems because it has a poor record in battling structure fires.
“We see the fire trucks running all over the valley. I don’t know of a fire they put out,” he said. “I watched a house right next door to the fire department burn to the ground,” he said, referring to Grace Cline’s home, which burned in March 2004.
As reported in the March 26, 2004 issue of the Chronicle, Chief Waldron said even though firefighters were on the scene within three minutes of the call for help, a strong afternoon wind had already pushed the fire up through the walls of the old home to the attic. Given the home’s construction and the wind, it was impossible to save the structure.
Waldron has also said that given the long distances that firefighters must travel in the sprawling rural district, sprinkler systems are an effective way to protect property.
It is the second issue this month that has sparked anger and criticism of the fire district. At the September fire board meeting, current and past school board members criticized the fire district for what they characterized as its rigid enforcement of the Uniform Fire Code. The district required the installation of a fire alarm notification system before students could occupy the school’s new modular classroom building.
The criticism comes just six weeks before the Nov. 7 election, when Frenchtown voters will decide whether to approve a perpetual fire district levy of almost $300,000 each year. The fire district is seeking the money for new capital budget items, including construction of new fire stations and replacement of aging fire engines and other apparatus.
The department’s presence has helped lower fire insurance rates for homeowners, Chief Waldron pointed out. If insurance rates were to increase, he said homeowners would end up paying a lot more out of pocket to the insurance companies than they would to the local fire district for the requested levy increase.
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